


The More Things Change

by urami



Category: Blue Bloods (TV)
Genre: Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Light Angst, M/M, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-09 17:38:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8905105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/urami/pseuds/urami
Summary: Noble never expected that he wouldn't mind waking up to finding a cop in his apartment.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [geri_chan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/geri_chan/gifts).



A year ago, if someone had told Noble Sanfino that he would be waking up in the morning next to a gently snoring cop- and loving it- he would have laughed his ass off. Or maybe punched them in the face- it would have depended on his mood, really.

But that was exactly what had happened, he thought with a smile. On this chilly November morning, Noble woke up with an NYPD officer’s arm slung across his chest, and he’d had to stifle a laugh. When he’d first met the somewhat-uptight man who’d introduced himself as “Jimmy Riordan,” never in a million years would he have suspected that the other man would flop out all over the bed like an incredibly lazy octopus in boxer shorts. Of course, Noble _also_ never would have guessed that he was a cop. That had led to some friction between the two of them when Noble had discovered the truth, that his friend wasn’t who he’d said he was, and led to him being disowned by his family.

Over the next few months, though, Noble had plenty of time to think. All things considered, was it really so bad to no longer be a major player in the, ah, family business? Noble wasn’t stupid. He knew that people in that line of work tended to die young. In fact, one of his earliest memories involved seeing the corpses of one of his cousins and his wife unceremoniously dumped on the lawn outside of his uncle’s house. He had been about four years old.

Or, there was the Christmas when he was seven, where instead of getting to open presents like he’d expected, he and his sister spent the whole day hiding in a closet with Johnny Tesla, since his father had received some information that the rival Ricci family might have been planning to attack the family. And the less said about the complete clusterfuck that was his sophomore year homecoming dance experience, the better.

Having some time and distance from the rest of his family was helpful to Noble, but he still resented the way it had all ended. Jimmy Riordan, or whatever the fuck his name was, was still a lying, weaselly asshole, and Noble hated that kind of person. If he ever saw that guy again, he was going to beat the shit out of him.

And then, he _did_ see him again.

It had started over something stupid. Noble’s neighbors had gotten into yet another noisy domestic dispute. Nobody in the apartment complex had been able to figure out why Mr. and Mrs. Washington in Unit 3B were still married- they fought like a cat and a dog, but it had just faded into the background of daily life, until one day, the marital problems reached a boiling point.

Noble had gone downstairs to collect his mail that evening, and on his way back to his apartment he’d stopped to chat with old Mrs. Nguyen. She always had the most interesting dirt on the other residents of the building, as well as always being willing to tell anyone who would stay still long enough to listen to her, her advice on how to have the best life possible. She’d just gotten around to telling Noble about the recent biopsy of a mole her husband had removed from his stomach when all of a sudden, they heard the argument in 3B take a turn for the more heated.

“That is IT! I want a divorce, Catrice!” Trevor Washington always had a loud voice, but this time, it was loud enough (and with an unusual hysterical edge to it) that Noble wouldn’t be surprised if some people in New Jersey heard it.

“You want a divorce?!” Catrice Washington responded mockingly. “You don’t get to divorce me! But if you want out so badly-!”

When the gunshots rang out, Mrs. Nguyen wasted no time in calling 911. About five minutes later, a handful of cops and paramedics stormed the building, carrying Trevor Washington to the waiting ambulance. He was lucky in that while the bullet had shattered his shoulder, he was most likely to survive the encounter. Catrice, of course, was hauled out of the apartment in handcuffs, screaming hysterically about how her husband had it coming, just like a character from a soap opera. That wasn’t surprising.

What _was_ surprising, was that “Jimmy Riordan” was one of the responding officers. Once the situation was under control and the appropriate parties had been taken to the hospital and/or arrested, a few of the officers on scene began interviewing the witnesses. While Mrs. Nguyen ranted about the Washingtons to the blonde policewoman who’d come in with Jimmy, Noble sneaked up on his onetime friend.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” he asked softly. The officer started.

“Oh. Noble. Hey…” he sounded like he’d really rather be anywhere else than there at the moment. Noble really couldn’t blame him. They hadn’t exactly parted on the best of terms. “You’re living here now?”

“Yeah. It was the best place I could afford after… everything,” Noble replied, his tone a little harsher than he’d maybe intended it to be. The officer winced, and Noble felt like he had to say something else, to prevent any misunderstandings. “It’s okay here. My neighbors fight a lot and the dog in 3E barks all night, but at least I don’t have to worry about tripping over Johnny Tesla passed out on my couch in the middle of the night or my cousin Sal showing up without warning and drinking all my beer anymore. And I don’t have to wonder if every time I hear sirens that I’m going to be arrested for something I probably had nothing to do with.”

“Mhm,” Jamie agreed non-committally. Then, he asked, “how is your sister?”

“Biance? As far as I know she’s fine,” Noble shrugged. “I haven’t talked to her in about a year. Despite everything, losing Johnny was hard on her.”

“I guess I should feel bad about that,” Jamie muttered. Noble laughed, a little bitterly.

“Don’t. He was a douchebag. He probably would have ended up dead sooner or later anyway.”

Both men stood awkwardly looking at each other for a few more moments, before Noble spoke up again. “Look, maybe we could get some coffee or something sometime, and start over? There’s a really good coffee shop about a block from here.”

Jamie smiled, the corners of his mouth just barely twitching upwards. “I’d like that,” he said.

* * *

That cup of coffee turned into two, which turned into more, and the more time Jamie and Noble spent really getting to know one another, rather than just the roles they were playing, the more they found they had in common. Just as Noble had a lot of expectations to live up to growing up in the environment that he had, so did Jamie. While obviously growing up in a family of mobsters was very different from growing up in a family of cops, some of the similarities were striking.

As the two grew to trust each other more and more, they began to tell each other more and more personal details. There were embarrassing stories- like the time Noble was thirteen and locked himself in the boys’ bathroom furiously trying to calm down the involuntary physical reaction he’d had to seeing Bridget Denten’s pink panties from below as she walked up the stairs between classes. And Jamie told him the story about the time in high school biology class, when they were supposed to be dissecting frogs. The stench of the formaldehyde had already been overpowering, but when he cut into the frog, he heard something snap, and the next thing he knew, Jamie was waking up in an ambulance. Apparently he’d passed out and hit his head on the corner of the desk, getting a concussion. For the rest of the year, whenever Jamie’s class had to do dissections, they had to use computer simulations to complete their assignments.

But it wasn’t until Jamie turned up at Noble’s apartment one night, a few months after they’d met, clearly three sheets to the wind, that the final barriers between them came crashing down.

Once Noble had managed to calm Jamie down enough to get him to drink some water and sit on the sofa, the reason for Jamie’s distress became clear.

It was the anniversary of the day that Jamie’s previous partner had been murdered. Jamie had held him as he’d bled to death. He’d been right there as the other man died; he’d seen everything.

At that, the only thing Noble could think to do was to hug Jamie. It had always worked on his sister when she was upset. Jamie couldn’t be that much different, right? At first, the policeman stiffened, but eventually relaxed and let Noble comfort him as best as he could.

A few weeks after that incident, things got a little heated between the two, and a discussion devolved into an argument, which then devolved into a kiss, which then devolved into a heated makeout session- including some electrifying below-the-waist action.

One thing led to another, and before they knew it, Jamie and Noble had fallen into a relationship that neither had anticipated.

And of course, that led to their current situation, with Jamie snoring away happily with his arm lazily draped over Noble’s body. Noble shuffled his body as gently as he could, he reached over to grab his cell phone to check the time.

Immediately, he sat bolt upright in bed and poked Jamie in the side. “Get up! It’s 8:30!”

Jamie grumbled and snuggled deeper into the pillows. Noble poked him again, slightly harder this time. “Jamie, you _really_ need to get up.”

“G’way Danny,” Jamie mumbled, ineffectively waving his hand in Noble’s general direction. “Make your own pancakes.”

Noble blinked. What did pancakes have to do with anything? Maybe it was a cop thing- in that case, he’d never understand it. But Jamie _really_ did need to get out of bed, and quickly.

“Jamie! Your tour starts at 9! It’s 8:30! You’re going to be late for work!” Noble almost shouted, giving Jamie a sharper shove than he would have otherwise.

Finally, that had the desire effect. Jamie jumped up and glared at Noble. “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?” he groused. “How am I going to get all the way to the precinct in half an hour?”

“Don’t take the subway,” came Noble’s sarcastic reply. Jamie’s reply to _that_ was to throw a pillow at his lover, before hopping out of bed and trying to get his uniform on as quickly as he could.

Yes, Noble mused, watching Jamie run through his routine as quickly as possible, if you’d told him a year ago that this was what his future was going to be like, he probably would have laughed at you.

But really, it was a better future than any other future he could have imagined before his old life fell apart. If the price of this- this being the life he was beginning to build with a good man; a man who spent his days trying to make the world a better place- was to cut ties with his family and get involved in a respectable business (even if it didn’t pay nearly as well as crime), then it was a price he was happy to pay.

/End  


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